A festivalgoer at Astroworld has sued Travis Scott and Drake for over a million dollars, claiming the rappers ‘incited the crowd’ that left him ‘severely injured’ and eight others dead.
Kristian Paredes, 23, from Austin, Texas, filed the complaint obtained by DailyMail.com Sunday accusing the rappers, Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation of negligence.
According to the complaint, special guest Drake ‘came on stage alongside Travis Scott and helped incite the crowd.’
He accuses Drake of continuing to perform with Travis Scott ‘as the crowd became out of control’ and ‘while the crowd mayhem continued.’
Paredes is now seeking over $1million for his bodily injuries, some of which he claims is permanent, as well as to cover medical expenses.
Scott, who said he was ‘devastated’ about the deaths and couldn’t ‘imagine anything like this happening,’ has been convicted twice for encouraging fans to jump security barriers and rush the stage at previous concerts.
Paredes says he was at the front of the general admission section, with just a metal barrier separating him from the VIP Section.
He says he felt an ‘immediate push’ as the countdown to Travis Scott’s performance ended and he entered the stage around 9pm.
The crowd became chaotic and a stampede began leaving eight dead and dozens including Kristian Paredes severely injured,’ the filing states.
‘Many begged security guards hired by Live Nation Entertainment for help, but were ignored,’ it says.
Paredes says in the lawsuit that the injuries and deaths are due to the ‘negligence, carelessness and recklessness’ of the ‘defendants, their agents, servants and employees, in the ownership, management, maintenance, operation, supervision, and the control of the subject premises.’
He is seeking a trial by jury.
Video circulating on Twitter shows fans begging the rapper to stop performing and chanting ‘stop the show’ as concertgoers were being knocked down and crushed by other attendees.
https://youtu.be/XZnCtbn8c5w
‘Fans were recording the concert and people doing CPR. Fans were yelling at the stage crew around us, saying stop the concert, people are dying. No one listened,’ ICU nurse and concert attendee Madeline Eskins told Rolling Stone.
‘It was definitely overcrowded. It was insane, honestly. I knew it was just way too crowded – it just got worse and worse as I got closer to Travis Scott performing it got more crowded, more crowded, more crowded.’
She also shared that although they are not to blame for the tragedy, the event’s medical staff were apparently unprepared and inexperienced.
‘Some of these medical staff had little to no experience with CPR – didn’t know how to check a pulse, carotid or femoral,’ Eskins shared on Instagram.
Compressions were being done without a pulse check so ppl who had a pulse were getting CPR, but meanwhile there was not enough people to rotate out doing compressions on individuals that were actually pulseless. The medical staff didn’t have the tools to do their jobs and despite the crowd around us trying to get someone to stop the concert they just kept going, even though Travis acknowledged that someone in the crowed needed an ambulance.’
Afterwards, the rapper was seen sobbing. A source close to him told Page Six that he had ‘no idea what was going on, he was on stage performing’.
‘He’s beside himself, I’ve never heard him like that. He was in tears,’ the source added.
Other videos from the night showed distraught fans begging concert staff to halt the performance and help people escape the surge.
‘People are f***ing dying, I want to save somebody’s life,’ a man said as he climbed on a platform where a cameraman was filming the performance.
‘That’s somebody’s kid! I want to save them!’ he screamed – but to no avail.’
Another clip showed the same man climbing up towards the cameraman joined by a woman pleading with the staff member to stop the concert.
Although inaudible, the cameraman was evidently trying to shoo the revelers off the platform and back into the crowd.
In yet another graphic video an unconscious young man was surrounded by Houston police officers who guided him onto the ground. They rolled the man onto his side while shining lights into his eyes.
Police investigating the deadly crush say a crazed man injected at least one person with opioids during the chaos.
Houston Chief of Police Troy Finner made the shocking claim at a press conference Saturday after hours of rumors about the Astroworld Fest tragedy, and Mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner revealed the victims were aged between 14 and 27.
‘One of the narratives was that some individual was injecting other people with drugs. We do have a report of a security officer, according to the medical staff that was out and treated him last night,’ Houston Chief of Police Troy Finner said at Saturday’s conference.
‘He was reaching over to restrain or grab a citizen and he felt a prick in his neck.
‘He went unconscious, they administered Narcan. He was revived, and medical staff did notice a prick similar to a prick you would get if somebody was trying to inject,’ he added.
It is unclear what drug was injected into the security guard, although Narcan is used to revive people who’ve overdosed on opioids, including fentanyl.
A fan who was paralyzed after falling from a balcony during a Scott concert in 2017 has blasted the singer for putting fans’ safety at risk.
A lawyer for Kyle Green, a 27-year-old who was injured at Scott’s April 2017 concert at Terminal 5 in New York City, says that Green was ‘devastated and heartbroken’ for the families of the eight people who died at Scott’s Friday night concert.
Green says he was forced over the edge of a balcony at the venue, which he called ‘severely crowded.’ He broke several bones and vertebrae and can only walk with a ‘significant, significant disability.’
In video of the incident, one fan can be heard saying, ‘I don’t wanna die in here.’
Green sued Scott, his manager, concert promoter Bowery Presents and a security company six months after the incident while he was still confined to a wheelchair. The case is pending.
In August 2015, the 29-year-old, who is dating Kylie Jenner, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of reckless conduct after his fans jumped a security barricade at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.
The Office of Emergency Management said at the time: ‘The performer played one song and then began telling fans to come over the barricades. Due to the security’s quick response, the situation was remedied immediately and no fans were injured.